Twisted Pixel is one of my favorite developers of Xbox LIVE downloadable titles. Located in Austin, TX, they’ve made gems like The Maw and Comic Jumper. Now with The Gunstringer, they’ve achieved two firsts. It’s their first Kinect game and their first retail title. In the game, play as a skeleton cowboy as he takes revenge on his posse who turned on him in life. Sounds pretty typical until you realize that the Gunstringer is a marionette puppet and you’re the one controlling his strings!

The game is set on a stage for a puppet show. In fact, you’ll see live people in the audience and in the background as you play! With your left hand, control the Gunstringer’s movements, like holding the strings on a puppet. Move your left hand left and right to maneuver the Gunstringer around obstacles, and flick your hand up to make him jump over pits.

Your right hand controls the Gunstringer’s six shooter. Move your right hand to control a cursor on the screen. When it moves over a target, it’ll lock onto it. You can lock onto six targets at once. When you are ready to fire, just flick your right hand up to your shoulder, like you’re pretending to shoot a gun with recoil. Gameplay is best described as an on-rails shooter, or like a Kinect version of Captain Smiley.

Sometime the game will mix things up. You might have to punch with your right hand in some segments to perform melee attacks. Or the Gunstringer will whip out two guns for double fisted aiming and shooting. At times you may have to duck behind a rock or crate and peek out to shoot at targets. Collect tacos to go into a frenzy and increase your score combo. At the end of every level, your score is tallied up in dollars and you’ll earn a medal. Use the money you earned to unlock goodies like movies, concept art, avatar awards, and much more!

If there’s one thing every Twisted Pixel game has, it’s great character design and style up the wazoo. And The Gunstringer is no exception. Seriously, whoever designs the characters at Twisted Pixel deserves a raise. Their game characters are almost as funny and memorable as ones from the big boys like Sony, Capcom, and Nintendo! The Gunstringer narrates everything he does, with humorous results that also sometimes doubles as handy tutorials and hints. The puppet stage theme is also apparent, and reminds me of a classic Treasure game called Dynamite Headdy (I wonder if anyone at Twisted Pixel knows about that game). Characters in The Gunstringer look like they’re made out of prop material, like cows made from milk bottles. Sometimes you can even see a giant hand placing objects in the background! I also like some of the classic game references it has such as Duck Hunt and Pitfall. If there was ever a REAL Gunstringer puppet show, I would definitely go see it.

A lot of Kinect games have spotty controls, but The Gunstringer works because they kept it simple and responsive. The only time things got cumbersome was when you are firing guns with both hands, as it can sometimes be confusing which cursor is your left or right one. The game is also slightly on the short side. But the good thing the initial run of the game comes with a free download code for Fruit Ninja Kinect, so it’s like getting two games in one! Me, my brothers, and my friends who have tried The Gunstringer all agree that it’s the only Kinect game so far that’s truly worth playing.

Kid Factor:

The Gunstringer is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood, Cartoon Violence, Drug Reference, and Sexual Themes. Blood?!? These are puppets; they don’t bleed when you shoot them! There are some blood-stained weapons here and there, but no copious amounts of the red stuff gushing out or anything. I’d probably be OK with some preteens playing this, with adult supervision of course. Some parents may have problems with their kids pretending to use a gun in the game, but it didn’t bother me any (but then, I am from Texas). Enemies just fall to pieces when you shoot them. Some kids might be frightened by The Gunstringer’s scary skeleton look, but the game makes it very clear that this is just a puppet show and nothing in it is real. They even have real life people setting up the stage at the beginning scene! The drug references and sexual themes mostly come from The Gunstringer’s narrations and end-game quotes, but there is also one large breasted enemy puppet that looks like an old Western prostitute.

But don’t worry, parents, if you want a good game for your kids, Twisted Pixel has another gem for you. It’s a downloadable Xbox LIVE title called The Maw, and it’s one of my favorite LIVE games. So check it out, you’ll be glad you did!

Tags: Game Reviews